The Boat House, Rochester

The Riverside Tavern is located on the north bank of the Medway River to the east of Rochester Bridge and the good sized garden at the rear has distant views of Rochester Castle and a decrepit old submarine with Russian markings. There are plenty of picnic tables, some of which are uncovered and a rainbow coloured flag proudly flies from a flagpole. For those not in the know the meaning of the flag becomes blatantly apparent upon entering the pub as if there was a scale of gayness the barman would have been off the chart. He was a very nice boy though and made me feel welcome as he poured me a pint of lager as there are no ales and the Guinness comes in surger form which I am not a fan of. The bar area is U shaped and there are sofas alongside standard tables and chairs throughout the pub. The right hand side of the pub is set up for dancing as there is a DJ booth and there is a pool table to the left of the bar. Plasma screens are dotted around the pub, but these are for showing music videos as there is no Sky Sports here as far as I could tell. Midday is the opening time everyday and the only food that I saw advertised was Sunday lunch which is served from midday until 16:00 on …erm… Sundays. I didn’t see any live music or DJ nights advertised, but there is a psychic reading night next week where the prices start at £25, I’m obviously in the wrong industry! Although clean and friendly this pub isn’t my sort of place and I’ll not be returning.